1970s–1990s: Recovery Efforts
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1973.
- Wolves from Canada began to naturally colonize the Glacier National Park area in northwest Montana in 1979, and the first wolf den in the western U.S. in over 50 years was documented there in 1986. The wolf population in northwest Montana grew because of natural reproduction and dispersal. By the end of 1994, there were about 48 wolves in and around Glacier National Park.
- In 1995, three family groups (a total of 14 wolves) were captured near Alberta’s Jasper National Park, transported to Yellowstone National Park, and placed in acclimation pens. Two of the females subsequently denned and produced nine pups in Montana.
- Also in the winter of 1995, 15 wolves were reintroduced into the wilderness areas of central Idaho. These animals moved widely throughout central Idaho and beyond. Many of these wolves moved north, some to the upper Bitterroot Valley. In 1996, three packs produced 11 pups.
- In the winter of 1996, 17 wolves were captured near Fort St. Johns, British Columbia, Canada, and were again released into acclimation pens in Yellowstone National Park. Twenty wolves were released in central Idaho. These translocated wolves were the same subspecies that existed in the northern Rocky Mountains historically.
- Wolves were not released within Montana, but wolf populations in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho grew rapidly and soon became a source for dispersers to Montana. New packs formed outside the earliest core wolf areas, and overall wolf distribution expanded.